Acomparison of the Squatter and the Don and We Fed Them Cactus

Marcos Alvarez
Professor Villanueva
10/28/10
English 47
A Contrast and Comparison Between The Squatter and the Don and We Fed Them Cactus
We Fed Them Cactus is a biographical social protest memoir about a young aristocratic Spaniard girl forced to assimilate into the American culture after the great period of western migration following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This same event inspired Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, a woman with similar upbringing, to write The Squatter and the Don. Though while Ruiz de Burton’s The Squatter and the Don practically shouts about the political and legislative injustices and lack of morals in this era of American history, We Fed Them Cactus is a much more eloquently and poetically written social protest memoir that aims at recording and memorializing the age of Spanish feudalism The themes within these two books mirror one another in that they explore the topics of loss, resistance, and the importance of preserving history and culture. I will also explain the differences in what they are trying to immortalize in history, how they differ on the political and social resistance of their themes, and I will defend my opinion that Cabeza de Vaca’s story gives a better insight as to the complexity between accommodation and resistance that exists in the Mexican community today. Let me begin by first talking about the themes of loss, resistance, and the end of an era.
The themes of loss and resistance are the predominant theme these two books; this includes the loss of land, culture, and society. In The Squatter and the Don one can hear Ruiz de Burton’s strong voice coming through and protesting the loss of her land and culture in her novel in conversations between characters. For instance, when Don Mariano was talking to Clarence about his land case, he stated, “I don’t find it in my heart to blame those people for taking my land as much as I blame the legislators who turned them loose upon me” (Don 141). You can hear...